I hadn't thought about that one. You'd theoretically need an entire ring of sensors plus one in each point. Again, you could probably solve for that, but the more complex you make it, the more likely it'll be screwy at times.

Good points, maybe they can do a virtual perimeter reading/marking based on dimensions of the ball that could be made from single sensor.

The Chiefs got screwed so many times on this last year.

you say this now but when we get ****ed out of a first down im sure you’ll be saying the linemen should kill themselve LMAO

Maybe put a thin layer that acts as a sensor around the bladder of the football under the leather?

I've been hoping for some kind of tracking system for a long time. We could've lost the Super Bowl due to a bad spot. Fortunately Mahomes is so badass he can overcome blind (or crooked) officiating.

Hmmm I did find this "magnetic transmitter" football. Its from about 10 years ago and looks to be funded by Disney? Guessing tech is further along now.

https://www.vox.com/2014/9/4/6101169...rst-down-chain

https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/...7%2C100&w=1440

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I would have thought that putting a microchip on a football would throw off everything BUT the article says that NFL footballs already have small weights in them to help with the balance and that the microchips would take the place of those? Had no idea

Does this affect the ball?
One concern might be that putting a magnetic transmitter in a football would alter its weight or balance. But when it comes to weight, a football is surprisingly forgiving.

"What most people don't realize is that the footballs are handmade, so there's quite a bit of variation from one ball to another — about an ounce of difference," Ricketts says. "So we designed our transmitter to be less than that natural variation." (There's less tolerance for variation in air pressure, as the Deflate-gate scandal has taught us.)

Additionally, footballs are naturally lopsided because of the laces, so manufacturers already need to put a small weight on the side opposite them to balance things out. That provides a natural spot for the transmitter.

If you know where the two chipped points of the ball are within the grid, figuring out where the sides are is just a simple math equation. Constantly waiting on the refs to match the "knee down" to the timestamp isn't going to be fun.

That 2" matters all the time, but we're seeing runs get spotted half a yard off and I cringe every time I see a spotter run down the sideline on a kick out of bounds when you can tell he looked like he just stopped and called it good enough. A computer could spit out the spot based on the kick location and landing impact a hell of a lot faster and more accurately.

Either way, we have PMII, Butker, and Punt God moving the ball around for us so we can probably leave petty arguments over mere inches on the field up to the rest of the peasants in the league.

Does this make the game better? That is the question.

The UFL does this.

you have a fiber optic net below the field. The ball has multiple chips in it. I think that has already been done without any complaints. How can it be inaccurate?

It’ll be accurate to within millimeter's. A human being sometimes 20 yards away will be more accurate than that?

Quit crying, they used an index card on the Raiders.

Yeah, I think all this would eliminate is the chain gang, because unless the chip is tied to the video time stamp, I don't think they could use it any other way.

A system like this is looking at the ball, and would never be able to tell when a ball carrier is actually down. But, if it was tied to the clock, replay could tell the exact time the runner was down, and check the location at that exact time stamp. Right?

No chance this system gets used without some hiccups. There will be some mind-blowing ****ups that the NFL has to answer for, but it's true of every innovation they try to install. Prepare yourself to be outraged.

Maybe just use for goal line for now.